The Obsession

At first glance this book seems to be a stalker romance, oh boy are you wrong. This book gave me so many crying tantrums and I loved it. This is a twisted book and Jesse Sutanto is very talented.

I very much loved the book however it got kind of confusing at points. I loved the plot twists throughout the entire story. The one thing I will say is that I could not seem to figure out who was the protagonist and who was the antagonist. Other than that it was a very good book well written. If you like fast paced stories with a plot twist every turn then this book is for you.

I loved this book so much and would recommend it to everyone I know! With all of the twist and turns (spoiler alert!)I absolutely could not believe what she did to Logan I thought he would die but not that way I thought he would rot in jail or get drugged and overdose but I guess not but really wish there was more to Delilah and Logan’s story!

I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into when I picked up this book. At first, I thought, “Okay, another story about a teenage boy stalking a girl—I’ve read a few of these.” But within the first 50 pages, when Dee killed Brandon, I realized I was in for a wild ride.This book left me speechless. The story was gripping, and I found myself rooting for Dee to come out on top. And she did, which was such a satisfying conclusion. At first, I didn’t think I’d hate Logan as much as I did. Surprisingly, I often sympathize with fictional “harmless” stalker characters, but Logan was far from harmless. His manipulative and obsessive behavior made me grow to despise him more and more as the story went on.While I wish the ending hadn’t been so rushed, the overall journey was worth it. The Obsession is a thrilling and satisfying read that flips the typical stalker-victim narrative on its head.

If you enjoy TV series like You or Webtoons like Killing Stalking, this is the book for you. The internal dialogues of the protagonists are extremely well written and they are both very disturbed people with a lot of unprocessed past trauma (of course, that doesn't excuse their actions, especially given the fact they are both upper middle class and could afford to seek mental help). There is a very good balance between describing the surroundings well enough to feel that you are actually in that cold, beautiful school, but without having too many details that would make you skip chapters. I would absolutely love a prequel that would tell us Logan's story with Sophie, the dead girl that was his first love and resembled Delilah (his current obsession). Logan describes undergoing a transformation to "become worthy" of Sophie and I would want to read the crucibles he went through, only for her to friendzone him and date/have sex with other men. When he meets Delilah, he is already described as "one of the hottest guys in the school" and is popular. The author is extremely gifted and I am looking forward to reading more of her books. I definitely recommend "The Obsession"!

See more of my reviews on The YA Kitten! My copy was an eARC I got as a reviewer for YA Books Central.I was guaranteed to love The Obsession. The premise is the kind of lovely twisted thing I’ve spent years asking for, so short of something like bigotry, ugly prose, or the book ending with Delilah forgiving Logan and moving forward with him as her forever guy, of course this would be a hit for me. When I was a teenager, I even started writing a surrealist YA novel to the same effect. There’s no way what I wrote then could compare to this book. The Obsession is just so, so good.There’s an often cited statistic that 40% of police officer families experience domestic abuse, but the numbers vary and that statistic comes from two studies done in the early 90s. Even so, it’s generally understood cops are more likely to abuse their partners and children than someone from the general populace. Our heroine Delilah Wong lives under the thumb of her mom’s boyfriend Brandon, an abusive cop who has taken control of her mom’s finances and done unspeakable things. It’s not a surprise that she snaps one day and kicks the jack out from under the car he was working on. It should be easy enough to play off a man crushed under a car as an accident.Except a boy named Logan started stalking her a short time before and has video proving the death was no accident. He’s obsessed with her after deciding half-Singaporean Delilah’s resemblance to his deceased, Japanese American crush Sophie is a sign from fate that Delilah is meant to be his. (I guess they all look alike to someone like him.) If she won’t be with him of her own free will, he’ll just take that video to the cops. Anything is worth it to keep Delilah with him.But Delilah is never going to be under any entitled guy’s thumb ever again–and that’s where the twisted goodness starts.The Obsession really nails its tagline: boy meets girl, boy stalks girl, girl gets revenge. It alternates between Logan’s and Delilah’s unique perspectives, which amps up the tension of a novel that will already have you tensed up like you’re in the dentist’s chair getting a filling.The only issue I have with The Obsession is Delilah’s attempt to armchair diagnose Logan via Google. Self-diagnosing with the Internet’s help generally isn’t that bad. I’ve done it myself a few times and been both right (my autism diagnosis) and wrong (thought I had eczema on my arms, turns out it’s tinea versicolor). You just don’t try to diagnose other people. Leave that to actual medical professionals like psychiatrists.The attempt to pin Logan’s behavior on a mental illness doesn’t sit right with me either. Some people are perfectly awful without being mentally ill. See: Brandon.The ending is everything I wanted from this novel and then some. Then I realized Sutanto wrote a second novel set at the same school, The New Girl. Though it doesn’t star a stalker and his vicious prey, I think I need that book now. Plus the jacket copy mentions the new main character sees a girl arrested on her first day and I really need to know if that girl is Delilah. I hope not.Tired of romanticized stalking and ready for an anti-heroine? Pick up The Obsession and enjoy.

I’ve been trying to dip my toes into the world of thrillers lately (baby steps, okay—I’m a scaredy cat, y’all!), so when this one was picked as my book club’s Book of the Month, I was actually excited.I gave it 4 stars because whew—this book showed me what true delusion looks like, and I’m honestly just relieved to know I’m not that far gone. LOL. The author did a great job portraying the characters and their emotions; I really felt the tension building throughout.That said, I do think a few major events could’ve been spaced out a little better. The pacing felt a bit off at times, and some plot points were a little predictable. But even with that, I still flew through it—because the FMC’s anxiety had mine in shambles.If you’re looking for a quick thriller that’ll have you on edge (without making you sleep with the lights on), this is a solid pick!